Astonishing X-Men #51 Review

Northstar and Kyle tie the knot!

It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for: the big issue showcasing Northstar and Kyle’s oh-so-controversial same-sex wedding! Here you’ll find all the wedding tropes from your favorite romantic dramedy with a little X-Men flair, including Northstar’s pre-wedding jitters and Kyle’s human parents being escorted to their seats by a dragon. It’s a quirky affair that delivers exactly what you’d expect, but given Majorie Liu’s excellent handling of the event, there’s nothing wrong with that.

While most of the guest-starring characters are happy for the couple, there are several detractors. Their dissent is handled well, all except for Warbird. She tells Northstar she doesn’t believe in their union. An alien doesn’t think two Earth men ought to get married. This from the woman who has said to Iceman, “Have you ever conducted mating rituals inside the body of another being and surrounded by flesh-eating aliens? Because I have.” Where does this warrior woman from an alien world -- who believes in freakish mating rituals -- find any basis for her argument? Showing the other side of the coin is of course appropriate, but Liu could have done so with one of the 200 mutants on Earth where it would have made more sense.

Mike Perkins is a master craftsman as far as settings go. The wedding takes place in a beautifully rendered Central Park with a sparkling frozen archway courtesy of Iceman. Perkins is tasked with many dialogue-heavy pages that bank of his ability to convey a wide variety of facial expressions, and while he generally does a good job, there are a few instances where Northstar’s face looks almost unrecognizable. That said, the colorful cast of X-Men characters who populate the pages have never looked better, some in formal wear and others in full costume. I might be the only one who is upset that Doop came naked; how cute would it have been for him to have a little bowtie?

**Spoiler!**

On a more meta note, did Liu give Northstar a perverse sense of justice by having Wolverine get viciously attacked on his special day? That’s some wedding present.

Joshua is a writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter or IGN, where he is still taking marriage proposals from wealthy mutants in New York City.